Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-07-09
THE MIGHTY HUNTER.
The Same Being Nimrod, the Christian
Sportsman.
The Wild Beasts Of Society to Be Hunted
Down.
The Church Must Become a Mighty
Hunter Before the Lord,
Armed With the Bow and Quiver Of the
Gospel.
.sHUNTING FOR SOULS"

j. D., is pastor, have gone to the
,uIntry for the summer. out still the
goat throng OF people thatfo r eighteen
wears have been seen in and around
Brooklyn Tabernacle on Sabbath days,
are found there. 1t is estimated that
about three hundred thousand
strangers have visited this church
during the past year. The hymn sung
this morning was:
Salvation, O, the joyful sound!
Ills pleasure TO our ears;
A sovereign balm for every wound.
A cordial for our fears"
DIR. Talmage's text was:
'He was a mighty hunter before the
Lorj."-Genesis X. Q.
He said:
In our day, hunting is a sport; but
in the lands and the times infested with
wild beasts, it was a matter of life or
death with the people. 1t was very
different from going out on a sunshiny
afternoon with a patent bre~ech-loader,
10 shoot reed birds on the flats, when
Pollux and Achilles and Diomedes went
out TO clear the land of lions and tigers
and bears. Ny text sets forth Nimrod
as a hero when it presents him with
broad shoulders and shaggy apparel,
sun-browned face, and arm punched
with muscle-''a mighty hunter before
the Lord" / think he used the bow
and the arrow, with great success,
practicing archery.
| have thought if it is such a grand
thing and such a brave thing to clear
WILD BEASTS
oDt of a country, if it is not a greater
and better thing to hunt down and
destroy those great evils of society that
are stalking the land with fierce eye
and bloody paw, and sharp tusk and
quick spring. | have wondered if
there is not such n thing as gospel
hunting. by which those who have
been flying from the truth may be cap
tured for God and heaven. The Lord
Jesus in His sermon used the art of
angling for an illustration when He
said: Il will make you fishers of
men," And so | think | have author
ity for using hunting as an illustration
of gospel truth, and l pray God that
there may be many a man in this con-
gregation who shall begin to study
gospel archery, of whom it may, after
u while, be said: "He was a mighty
hunter before the Lord"
How much awkward Christian work
there is done IN the world! How many
good people there are who drive souls
away from Christ instead of bringing
them to Him! Religious blunderers
who upset more than they right. Their
gun has IA crooked barrel, and kicks as
it goes off. They are like a clumsy
comrade who goes along with skilful
hunters; at The very moment he ought
to be most quiet, he is cracking an
alder or falling over a log and fright
ening away the game. How few
CHRISTIAN PEOPLE
have ever learned the lesson of which
/ read at the beginning of the service,
how that the Lord Jesus Christ at the
well went from talking about a cup of
water to the most practical religious
truths, which won the woman's soul
for God! Jesus IN the wilderness was
breaking bread to the people. | think
it was good bread; it was very light
bread, and the yeast had done its work
thoroughly. Christ, after he had
broken the bread, said to the people;
beware of the yeast, or of the ~leaven,
of the Pharisees!' So natural a
4.r..,..;o,. - ,u,1 ,.l 49, ,,,;J,, .L,,-
all understood Him! But how few
Christian people who understood how
to fasten the truths of God and religion
to the souls of men! Truman Osborne,
n of the evangelists who went
through this country some years ago,
had a wonderful art in the right direc-
ton. He came to my fathers house
one day, and while we were all seated
in the room, he said: ..Mr. Talmage.
are all your children Christiansp'
Father said: YES, all but De Witt"
Then Truman Osborne looked down
into the fireplace, and began TO tell u
story of a storm that came on the
mountains, and all the sheep were in
the fold; but there was one lamb out
side that persisted in the storm Had
he looked me in the eye, | should have
been angered when he told that story;
but he looked into the Fireplace, and
it was SO pathetically and beautifully
done that never found any peace until
/ was sure | was inside the fold. where
the other sheep are.
The archers of Old time studied their
art. They were very precise in the
mater. The old books gave special
directions as to how the archer should
90, and rs to wha. an archer should do.
He must
STAND ERECT
and firm, his left foot a little in ad-
vance of his right foot. With his left
hand he must take hold CT the bow in
the middle, and then with three fingers
and the thumb of his right hand he
should lay hold of the arrow and aiix
it to the spring-so precise was the di.
rection given. Bat how clumsy we
are about religious work How little
skill and care we exercise How ofteh
our arrows miss the mark Oh, that